Now Nokia is taking patent battle to HTC

The ink is hardly dry on HTC’s settlement with Apple and now the company has to defend itself against a fresh assault, and from an unexpected corner.

Nokia has filed suiteÂ againstÂ HTC in 5 different venues, accusing the company of violating 32 different patents.

The cases have in fact been filed all the way back in May, but will in most cases come to trail before the end of the year.

Some of the patents are rather basic technology ones, such as those related to the antenna or signal management, and others are user interface issues.

3 of the 5 venues are in Germany, who are rather notorious for siding with the patent holder.

FosspatentsÂ suggests that if Nokia could get Apple to pay up, then HTC should be a complete push-over. Â HTC has already shown its willingness to settle with IP holders, paying first Microsoft and then Apple for the use of Android.

While it is not great to see infighting like this between Windows Phone licensees, Nokia’s financial situation likely means they are forced to explore any possible source of revenue, and unfortunately for HTC they represent a weak target. Hopefully Microsoft will intervene and make sure the battle will not compromise HTC’s Windows Phone products, who likely do infringe on some fundamental technology patents.